12 Labours of Hercules 5: Kids of Hellas Review – For the Kids

The Good

Great game for young players.

Straightforward gameplay experience.

The Bad

Not very challenging.

Levels design could be cleaned up a bit.

Hercules could be more useful.

Ares, angered by Hercules’s refusal to join his army, entranced and kidnapped the children of Greece. The task of returning those stolen children falls on the broad shoulders of Hercules, who is accompanied by Megara and a team of workers.

If you know more than a little bit about mythology, you’ll note an anachronism right away: Ares is the Greek god of war, while Hercules is Roman; the Greek version of Hercules is known as Heracles. If inconsistencies bother you, Kids of Hellas may not be for you. One of the most reoccurring issues involves Hercules himself.

Hercules is primarily known for his strength, and throughout Kids of Hellas he exercises that strength by moving giant boulders and such. However, the majority of the time Hercules is unable to clear the roadway of simple obstacles like small rocks or fallen trees. The workers must clear the roadways of these objects instead. I understand that as a time management game, that it’s just how the game works, but it just seems silly to me that Hercules could toss away a giant boulder but can’t move a log and some stones.

Maybe there could be a “rest” mechanic that involves Hercules requiring X-amount of time to recover after moving an object before he can move another object. This would explain the need for workers, and require a little bit more strategy on the player’s part to utilize Hercules’s strength efficiently.

Because if there’s one thing this game needs more of, it’s challenge.

12 Labours of Hercules 5: Kids of Hellas is very, very easy. The entire game comes down to clicking the various objects when they light up with a green ring. Click the green-lit resources to collect it or harvest it, do that enough and the obstacles in the road will light up for you to click. Click the obstacles to clear them and go back to harvesting resources until you’ve collected enough to clear the next obstacle. Basically, there is no wrong way to go about a level unless you just neglect to clear the roadways and rescue the children, or wait around long enough to let the generous timer expire.

I caught myself zoning out a lot while playing the game simple because of how mindless it was. There was very little strategy involved besides remembering to pay attention enough to click the next green object.

Further turning me away from paying much attention to the game is how it looked. Instead of obstacles fitting in with the scenery, as seen in Roads of Rome: New Generations, the obstacles in Kids of Hellas were over-sized and garishly stood out from the environment. The bright purple gems clashed with the golden coins next to them, which clashed with the red cheese wheel next to it, and they all clashed with the environment’s background art. On top of that, each level was crammed with stuff which made them look look like a messy room.

If you can get past the visuals and the oversight regarding Hercules’s strength, 12 Labors of Hercules 5: Kids of Hellas isn’t a bad game. It’s easy, yes, but it isn’t unfair or broken in any way. And the aspects that held it back, from my point of view, lend well towards a game that is kid-friendly: bright colors and lots of hand-holding. So if you have a little one who’s itching to get into these sorts of games, well then Kids of Hellas is a good place for them to start.